Thawing apparatus



Feb. 18, 1930. C, K, sTElNS 1,747,912

THAWING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 3; 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet l @mx-1n l I 'd W1TNESSES A TTORNFVS' Feb. 18, 1930.

C. K. STEINS THAWING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 3. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 wiin! EN "Vqllillu "UN "U UIIIIH H H I l LIJHiI-IIIIIIIIH H IIIHM-IlHIIIIIlIIIU vllIlHllllllllIlllllHU- INVENTOR:

WITNESSES l' Careifolz H Sams. www

ATTORNEYS.

c. K. sTElNs THAWING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 3. 1928 Ffa. II.

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Feb. 18, 1930. c. K. sTElNs THAWING APPARATUS 'Filed Nov. 5. 1928 5sheets-sheet 5 WITNESSES INVENTo/g;

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rPatented Feb. 18,* y'1930 UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE CARLETON K.STEINS, OF INDIANAIFOLIS, INDIANA THAWING APPARATUS Application filedNovember 3, 1928. Serial No. 317,092.

My invention, while relating generally to y thawing apparatus, hasparticular applicanumber of independentlyL heated compartments intowhich divisions of a train of freight cars'may be shunted'and confinedfor thawing, the heating lapparatus being located beneath thetracks sothat hot air may rise directly to the car rcompartments with a minimumof heat loss.v This arrangement in addition to its advantage in economyof fuel consumption reduces the area ofthe thawing/plant and enables theuse of conduits of i comparatively' short lengths forthe circulation ofheated air.

` A further obj ect of my invention is to simplify the structure of thethawing plant by incorporating the hot air yducts in the foundationsforythe compartment partitions and thus minimize wasteful Adissipation ofheat.

7 Still another andyimportant object of my invention is the provision ofan arrangement which permits an eiiicient and handy system fory fuelingthe.' heating furnaces and carrying off the ashes therefrom. y c y VhileI am aware/that thawing plants of various types in which heated air khasbeen fused. as the thawing medium have been the subject of lpriorpatents and arein present suse, myinvention is characterized by thenovel arrangementand operation of thawing apparatus resultlng y1n markedYadvantages including .more efficient and more uniform heating of thecar compartments as will .be ,apparent from the drawings and thedescription vwhich follows, in which I have illus- Ytrated and describedavpreferred embodiment of the invention and whereof Fig. I is a locationplan showing the thawing plant yand, the ,various tracks leading -to it;

Fig. II risica track plan of the floor of the icar'thawing compartments;Y

. Fig. III isa plan view of the heater and 0 biewerroom g and,

' Fig. IX is a cross'section of an air heating furnace. y

Referring particularly tov Fig. I, I have shown the thawing plantcomprehensively designated by the numeral 1 with a series of tracks 2for shunting divisions of'a train of freight cars into the variouscompartments 8 of the thawing plant.k The track location plan also showsa2 coal car track 4, an vash car track 5 and a runaround track 6 whichwill be described more in detail hereinafter.

In Fig. II the track planof the thawing plant l shows the compartments 3with longitudinal partitions 7 and doors 8 constructed of suitableinsulating material so that each compartment may be independentlyheated. By virtue of the complete isolation of each compartment fromneighboring compartments only a sufficient number of compartments needbe heated as are required to house the number of cars the contents ofwhich are to be thawed. The thawing medium preferably employed is hotair supplied at the bottom of the compartments 3 adjacent the rails oftheir respective tracks 2 by means of f kdle sections of thecompartments 3`houses the heaters 1l which are conveniently arrangedinstaggered formation, there being one heater for each compartment.Adjacent each heater 11 there is shown a motor driven.

blower 13 is situated on the cold air side of the heater directlybeneath a return air intake 10 and adapted. to regulate the .air flowthrough the heater. From the hot air delivery side of each heater trunks14e-lead toV conduits 15 formed inthe foundations `16 which support thepartitions 7 as may best be seen from F ig. V. The foundations'l areperforated at longitudinal intervals to provide tuyres 9 which furnishheated air to the compartments adjacenty the rails of the tracks 2. Itwill be kapparent from the v,description thus far that full advantage istaken of the naturaltendency ofhot air to rise, andthat the Vdirectionof flow as indicated by the arrows is from the heaters directly upwardthrough the trunks 14;, thence out'- ward through the conduits 15 alongthe length of each compartment and upward againthrough the tuyeres 9from whence the hot air is distributed throughout each compartment. v

` One of the heaters 1 1 is illustrated iny detail inFig. IX.-"Itcomprises' a refractory fur'- nace 17 with a grate 18 above whichthereare a series of lines 19 which lead to a ccmmon air trunk 20. Thegasesfrom the' 'furnace pass upwardthrough a stack 21 which is" situatedwithin af partition or bulkhead 7 and whichterminates in a chimney 22:above the roof 23 of the thawing plant.' Associated witheach heaterll'is a blower diagrammatically represented at13, the construction ofwhich is not material to the` invention. The blower 13 lsuppliestheheater 11 with pair to be reheated through the trunk 24. An 'electricmotor 25 with abelt drive 26 is shown as the' prime kmover vforoperating the blower 13'. f

Referring toeFig. VII, I have shown at the right-hand side of thethawing plant a coal car track 4 with a car 27 thereon, there n being acoal pocket 28 beneath the cari'nto whichcoal for the heatersV 11 visdumped. A cut-ofi gate29 controls the' flow 0f coal from the pocket V28into a coal wagon 30 which runs on the'V narrow gauge track on thefloorof the basement. At the left hand side ofthe thawing yplant I haveshownan ash car track 5 with a car 31 thereon for the coal pocket 28 toreceive coal for fueling the heaters 11. Obviously the arrangement showncan be readily adapted for the transportation and handling of otherfuels than Y coal such as coke or oil.

The run-around track serves to allow the passage of a train of cars bythe thawing plant when the various .other tracks are occupied, and mayalso be conveniently used for reversing the position of a locomotive onatrainfrom. one end to the other.

The operation of my thawing apparatus being apparent-from thedescription need only be briefly described. Initiallyy the train ofcars, the contents ofv which are to bel thawed, is separated intodivisionsv which are shunted into the requisite number ofcompartments.The doors of the, compartments are then closed, andin the meanwhile theheaters 'for those compartments which are occupied arejcharged and theirrespectivek 7 blowers set in operation.` The manual labor involved intending the heaters is materially Y anism previously described.l It willbe apparent that the arrangement of thel constituent parts of theplantis such reduced by the'coal and ash handling mechf that heat lossesareexceedingly small. VAThe f positioning of the `heaters A directlybeneath the compartments to be heated enables the use ofk conduits ofthe shortest possible length for conducting` vair tothecompa'rtmentsfand -i returning it tothe blowers.' `Furthermore, byincorporating conduits in the foundations between the severalcompartments in fthe manner shown there is heat to the ground. Y

yWhile I have illustrated and described one form ofmy invention, it willrv'be' apparent toV those skilled in the vart thatrchanges may ,littledissipation of be madein the form ofthe apparatus dis-k closed withoutdeparting fromthe spiritof the inventionfan'd that certain features ofthe apparatus described maysometimes be used with advantage without acorresponding use of other features. Y

Havnglthus vdescribed my invention, I claim: n 1. A' thawing yapparatuscomprising Aa number of insulated contiguous comparti-ly ments andtracks forihousing 'divisions of a train of cars carrying` material 'to,be thawed, foundations for the longitudinal partitions of saidcompartments, said longi-V tudin al foundations Vbeing formed vwith,conduits therein for supplyingheated Vair to said compartments beneaththe track level, a'number of air heating furnacesfor inde; pendentlyheating said compartments, and located therebeneath, ainumber ofblowersadjacenty said furnaces,'and return air in-4 takes directly above .saidblowersandbeneat-h' the track level of said compartments.

2. `A thawingapparatuscomprising a number of insulated' contiguouscompartments withtracks for housing divisions of a train of carscarrying material to be thawed, foun# dations for vthe longitudinalpartitions of said compartments, said longitudinal ounf dations beingformed with conduits therein for supplying heated air to saidcompartments beneath the track level, a pit running transversely andcentrally of said compartments'and situated therebeneath, a number ofairheating furnaces in said pit for independently heating saidcompartments, a like n number of blowersy adjacent saidy furnaces Yandreturn air intakes Ldirectly above said blowers and beneath the tracklevel of said compartments.

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Indianapolis,Ind., this 11th day of October, 1928 CARLETON K. STEINS.

